Hey Percy, I Need You
by xXSavinTheWhalesXx
Summary: Follow-up to emblah01's Hey, Percy, I Miss You. On his way back to his cabin, Leo hears something he shouldn't. Rated T for one bad word. Credit for the idea goes to emblah01; credit for everything else goes to Rick Riordan, Master Troll.


**Hello, my lovelies! Aren't you proud of me? It's my first completed story (even if it is a one-shot)!**

**In regards to my "Nico in Tartarus" story, I apologize PROFUSELY for not updating in an obscenely long time, and essentially going MIA, but I just don't have any ideas, and it's taking far too long to write when I have far too little time to just sit down and ****_write_****. So, if anyone other than Lou is reading this, just drop a little review in my other story for some inspiration/motivation. It would make my day. But as a consolation prize that's kinda monumentally disappointing in nature, the next time I do update, the story will be finished so I'll be posting a chappie a day. **

**Speaking of Lou, otherwise known as emblah01, she posted a one-shot called ****_Hey, Percy, I Miss You_****. I thought it was sweet and stuff, and y'know, fluffy. Anyway, while we were walking a few days ago, we started taking about how awkward it would have been in her fanfic if Leo had overheard Annabeth, and not Piper. And the rest goes without saying. **

**Please read the original story, as well as all emblah01's other ones. They're FANTABULOUS!**

**Enough of this A/N!**

Oh man, was Leo sick of the smell of motor oil. Dang…he never thought he would ever hear him say that. It always seemed like one of those things he could go on smelling forever, but after being stuck in that Bunker 9 for three straight days, eating fruity granola bars and peeing in a bush because he was too _in the zone_ to hike back to camp and only having the Argo II's structure and the dismembered head of Happy the Dragon for company, it was a relief to get into the open air. He thought that he could just keep truckin' along for the rest of his life, breathing in that distinct whiff of grease, but apparently he needed air that wasn't stale, once in a while. Hmm. Go figure.

After trudging through the forest for a while, and only getting hit in the face by a tree branch twice (_thank you_, stupid dryads), he reached the giant field which housed the cabins, once a U, so he'd been told, but now an omega. Leo shuffled toward Cabin Nine, in need of a good nap, waving at couple passing Demeter girls. They were about to wave back when they stopped, pointed at him not-so-discreetly, and snuck away giggling. Leo looked around in confusion before looking down and seeing the large stain on the underarm of his shirt. _Ooooh, attractive, Valdez. Real nice. _Now deciding he needed a shower as well, he continued to his cabin to get some clean clothes. Halfway past the ladies' wing, he heard a funky noise coming out a Cabin Six. And y'all know Leo; he's not good with organic life forms. But he ain't no coward, ya dig? So, naturally, he stepped inside. What Leo saw, he was _not_ expecting. In fact, it was so out of whack, that he immediately regretted coming in and felt a little guilty for seeing it.

It was Annabeth. Well, more specifically, Annabeth's back, which meant she was facing the wall, which was plastered with pictures next to her bunk. She was shaking with sobs, and clearly, she was not very composed, like good ol' Annie normally was. Her wails almost reminded Leo of that time when he accidentally set his foster mother's cat on fire, but infinitely more heartbroken. And then she started talking, which was when Leo really wished that he could melt into a puddle on the floor and trickle away into a gutter. He felt the need to bolt, but somehow his feet were frozen, and he was more than a little worried that she knew he was here. Because she scared him a little, and Leo seeing her like this was not a very safe situation.

"Hey, Percy." Her voice sounded weak, breaking a little on his name. "I miss you. I _need_ you."

Leo wasn't sure what to think. So, here was big bad Annabeth Chase, bawling like a very sad baby, talking to the wall. Possible blackmail material, perhaps, but she just seemed so broken that it was wrong to even think of that. He didn't mean to eavesdrop, but he felt that since she was essentially their leader, if her sanity was in question, it was in his best interest to stay. He held his breath, not exactly planning on divulging his position.

"I-I'm just worried, that you're dead or you're hurt or you won't remember me," she warbled, breaking back down into tears. "I don't know what to do here without you, Seaweed Brain. I feel like there's so much pressure, and I just can't cope with it on my own…I love you, Percy. Why aren't you here?" Her voice subsided into more broken gasps and tears. "I HATE YOU, HERA! Why…why us…" Annabeth screamed suddenly, punching the wall, and Leo stumbled back a few steps, startled to see her so…uninhibited. Just his luck, she heard him against the wood floor, and turned sharply, sucking in a breath.

"Leo," she breathed. Her eyes were red and swollen, her hair strewn all over her face, her bottom lip trembling.

"Ummm…" Leo started real intelligently. _Just play it cool, Valdez, and maybe you can keep your appendages. _She quickly sat up and brushed at her eyes, batting her hair off her face. He noticed that she held a picture in her hand, of a black-haired head next to a blonde one. Leo figured it was her and Percy.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, this time regaining some of her usual strength.

"I had to shower."

"Oh." Leo was congratulating himself on having achieved the impossible, since Annabeth looked rather confused now. "But that doesn't explain why you're here."

"I was on my way to my cabin, hermana," he rectified. He shuffled awkwardly with his feet a little, before he felt like he was standing too still and reached into his tool belt, grabbing a few metal scraps and fiddling with them.

"That still doesn't explain why you're in the Athena cabin, Repair Boy."

"Hey!" Leo cried indignantly. "Only Piper's allowed to call me that, and that's 'cause I get to call her Beauty Queen. You know how hard it is to find a good nickname that isn't offensive? It's impossible, girl!"

Annabeth smiled sadly and spoke in a quiet voice. "Yeah. Yeah I know." She seemed to mentally shake herself before continuing on. "So, I guess you heard me?"

Oh boy, was Leo nervous. This is where playing it cool was needed. "What? No- heard what? I just saw…" His mind was reeling, trying to find some excuse that sounded remotely plausible. He fidgeted even more with the scraps in his hand, looking down to see a bronze replication of an arachnid. "I saw a spider coming in," he finished with a questioning expression on his face.

Immediately, Annabeth jumped up, terror on her face. "Sp-sp-aagh?"

"Um, yeah," Leo said, glad he had distracted her, and really confused as to why she was incoherent all of a sudden.

"Where?" she asked, now swiveling her head frantically, trying to catch sight of it.

"Oh, it went somewhere over there," he said, airily waving his arm in the general direction of Annabeth, knocking over a stack of books on someone's bedside table. "Oops."

Annabeth squealed a little, which Leo thought was a very un-Annabeth-like sound, and jumped onto the top bunk, curling up into a ball. "Kill it, Seaweed Brain," she mumbled, before her face darkened and tears leaked down her cheeks afresh.

"I'll just…go," Leo said awkwardly, starting to shuffle back toward the door.

"No!" she commanded. "You have to kill it."

Suddenly, Leo understood. She had arachnophobia. Annabeth Chase, who was a good few inches taller than he was, was terrified of a little- imaginary- spider. He started to laugh. Really loudly.

"Leo!" she hissed from on top of the bunk bed. "Quit laughing! This isn't funny."

"Oh yes it is, Blondie!" he choked out between breaths, rolling on the floor, knocking into the same bedside table and tipping the lamp onto the paneled wood of the cabin floor. He heard a shatter seconds later. "O-oops."

"Stop knocking things over and _help me_," Annabeth said tiredly.

"O-okay," Leo gasped, still guffawing. He tried to get up to look for the imaginary spider, but he misjudged his state. Leo was still doubled over in laughter when he attempted to walk and ploughed headfirst into the giant desk-table-thing in the middle of the room. Dozens of pens sprinkled onto the floor, hundreds of sheets of paper blew around the room like ghosts, and numerous sticks of graphite smashed on contact.

"VALDEZ!" Annabeth looked murderous. Holy Hephaestus, Leo knew that that expression could only precede a shit-load of trouble. Slowly, she drew her dagger and pointed it at him threateningly. "If you don't find that spider, kill it, and clean up this cabin, I will skewer you with this dagger before you could say _Help me, Chiron_."

Leo took that as his cue to run. He could hear her screeches all the way from the bath house.

**R&R&R, because reading a story and not reviewing is like asking for money from a granny and not paying her back. Okay, bad analogy, but you get it. **

**When you review (which I'm sure you'll do), give me a suggestion for a quirky sign-off? **

**Aggie**


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